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Two Ames Poets on War, Love, and Life

Host: Kay Puttock

In honor of National Poetry month, two distinguished Ames poets talk about what inspires their poetry and about the local poetry scene, and also read and talk about specific works.

Dennis Maulsby, a veteran of the Vietnam war, and a short story writer as well as a poet, talks about creativity as a coping response to trauma, and introduces his two latest publications: Near Death/Near Life (poems) and Free Fire Zone (short stories with introductory poems).

Then Maggie Westvold talks about her Iowa roots and commemorates fellow poet Tommalou Maas, a dear friend who died in 2002. She reads some of Tommalou's poetry, and and also poetry she has written about Tommalou. (NOTE: You will be able to hear more of Maggie Westvold remembering local poets she has known on KHOI's Heart of Iowa, broadcast at noon and 7:00 PM on May 11.)

In the last part of the program you can hear suggestions from the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau about how to convince visiting friends and relatives that Ames is a wonderful destination for tourists.